How honest are Americans?

• Position: Increased use of honesty tests by employers

Is stealing as American as apple pie? How honest is the average person? Would you steal if you knew for sure you wouldn't get caught? Did you ever feel you would be justified in stealing from your employer? Have you ever felt that the temptation to steal can be just too strong to resist?

Anyone looking for an honest man or woman in the U.S. today would have lots of problems, according to Lousig-Nont and Associates, a pre-employment testing firm located in Las Vegas, Nev. Out of 7,443 people it tested for honesty in 1993, 52% were ranked as low desirability for employment because they admitted to stealing or thinking about stealing regularly or said they would steal if they thought they had a good enough reason.

To those who are honest, there is never a good reason to steal. Dishonest people, though, may rationalize that it is okay to leave a restaurant without paying if the food and service are really bad. Or, they may feel it is okay to steal if the money or items are sorely needed by their family.

Current estimates are that internal theft costs American companies more than $60,000,000,000 a year. Statistics indicate half the new small businesses that fail within the first year do so because of internal theft. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that shoplifting and employee theft account for approximately 15% of retail prices.

"The reaction of employers to employee dishonesty in the past was to shrug off these losses," indicates Theresa Martelli, a psychologist and research administrator with the Ohio State Patrol. "However, the severity of employee dishonesty can no longer be overlooked by organizations, and the result has been an increased use of 'honesty' tests." These are written, psychological instruments that attempt to identify the different attitudes associated with honest and dishonest people.

Besides admissions of past behavior, the exams measure the ability of the test-taker to rationalize dishonest behavior under certain...